Put Your Best Foot Forward

Richard Cowin, D.P.M

As the topic of today’s “A Better You” issue is “Healthy Home & Family,” I would like to first address my perspective of a healthy home as it pertains to my specialty of podiatric foot and ankle surgery first and then move on to my thoughts about a healthy family.

First, several very common skin problems that regularly affect our feet are contagious and can be spread from one family member to another. The first of these is called tinea pedis and you likely know it by its more common name, “athlete’s foot.” The most common area of dissemination from one family member to another is, of course the bathroom-particularly the shower area and the bath mat.

A second common skin problem that can be spread from one family member to another is called verruca plantaris or “plantar warts.” A wart is a virus infection that can infect skin anywhere, but the most common locations are the palms or the hands and the soles of the feet. The term “plantar” refers to the soles of the feet and has nothing to do with gardening.”

Here are some tips to prevent the spread of plantar warts and athlete’s foot:

1) Treat these conditions promptly. If you don’t have them, you can’t spread them.

2) Wear flip flops or shower shoes into the bathroom and around the house so your feet don’t make contact with the ground.

3) After using the shower, spray the shower and bath mat areas with a disinfectant such as Lysol Spray.

Hopefully, following these simple suggestions will make your home healthier.

When discussing the topic of a healthy family from a podiatric perspective, it’s important to understand that many foot problems you may have thought were caused by wearing bad shoes are actually genetically inherited. Some examples of hereditary foot problems are bunions, tailors bunions (bunionettes), hammertoes, mallet toes, arthritic joints, heel spurs, high-arched feet (pes cavus), flat feet (pes planus) and others. Indeed, usually many members of the same family are diagnosed and treated for the same problems their parents and grandparents (and, dare I say, great grandparents) visited a podiatrist for in earlier years.

The good news for the later generations is, of course, that many new treatments are available now and many other procedures have been refined and improved, since the earlier generations had their feet treated. Minimally invasive (1-stitch) foot surgery, laser foot surgery, EPAT non-invasive shockwave treatment, and ethyl alcohol injection therapy are just some of those improvements.